The present research was focused on probiotic characterization of lactic acid bacteria from fermented
foods and beverage of Ladakh. Twenty five lactic acid bacteria were examined in vitro for potential
probiotic properties based on their low pH tolerance, bile-salt resistance, lysozyme tolerance, cholesterol
removal, hydrophobicity, autoaggragation, production of antimicrobial substances, exopolysaccharide
production, b-galactosidase activity and haemolytic activity. The outcome of these studied parameters
was used as input data for a principal component analysis (PCA) to select the most promising isolate and
ten most potential probiotic isolates were identified through 16S rDNA sequencing. On the basis of PCA,
isolate 84 (Lactobacillus plantarum KJ722784) showed similar trend to Lactobacillus casei Shirota used as
reference strain in terms of probiotic properties. Fermented milk sample inoculated with L. plantarum
KJ722784 exhibited decrease in viable count during storage at 4 C on day 28. However, the survival
count is greater than 7 log CFU/ml which is higher than the requirement of 6 log CFU/ml to exhibit health
benefit.